Ireland gay marriage vote: Early tallies strongly suggest ‘Yes’ victory

Twitter users are using #tallytweets to paint a picture of the election result using count sheets

Louis Dore
Saturday 23 May 2015 17:16 BST
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Early tallies from ballot boxes are suggesting a ‘Yes’ campaign majority in the same-sex marriage referendum in the Republic of Ireland.

With 12 per cent of boxes tallied in the Dublin North Central constituency, 70 per cent had voted ‘Yes’, with only 30 per cent voting ‘No’.

Twitter users are using the hashtag #tallytweets to broadcast their vote tally count sheets, giving an initial picture of the referendum result, which appears to be giving a strong victory to the 'yes; campaign.

However, some tallies in other areas are more mixed, as count proceedings are still in early stages.

The early tallies follow reports of an ‘unusually high turnout’ on Friday, with polling stations closing at 22:00 BST with some areas reporting over 60 per cent electorate turnout.

Irish citizens who are registered are allowed to vote, but due to no postal voting in the referendum, many people have returned to Ireland simply for the purposes of casting their votes.

Voters were asked whether they agree with the statement: "Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”

The country are awaiting the result of a referendum on same-sex marriage which would see same-sex marriage legalised 22 years after homosexual acts were decriminalised in Ireland.

Only 18 other countries worldwide have already legalised gay marriage, including the United Kingdom with the exception of Northern Ireland.

The United States and Mexico currently have regional legislation permitting same-sex marriage, but have yet to legalise throughout the country.

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